Goa x 2

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Having had my R & R in Benaulim, I decided to do a bit more of what Goa is renowned for and find a place to indulge in the hedonistic pleasures of the world. Palolem looked a good balance, with a beach that would have been beautiful 20 years ago and although not truly beautiful now, like any true beauty that has had the misfortune of aging terribly, her beauty still shines through, should you choose to ignore a few glaring moles and facial scars.

While there I lucked out again, meeting a good group of people, two Americans, one Dutch and one Aruban. The Aruban was the first person I have met from Aruba. For those who are as baffled as I was, an Aruban is someone from Aruba which is a Dutch colony in the Caribbean islands. There are only 100,000 of them or so, so I was quite lucky to have met one, if only to have learnt that it existed and that it with, Curacao, Sint Maarten and of course the Netherlands, forms the Kingdom of the Netherlands. You learn something everyday and that was what I learnt on meeting Marianne.

David the American that I met, was a god send. As I said a lot of the tourists had disappeared when I arrived in Goa and those remaining were disappearing while I was there. This made for a pleasant, peaceful atmosphere, but at Palolem which is a bit more set up for socialising and going out, you fast get bored sitting around by yourself. While watching the cricket on my second night there, he passed on by and we got talking, which ended up resulting in us going out for drinks, which ended up in us meeting the three girls, which ended up in us having a very good time in Palolem

David is a business analyst from New York and he was making the most of his two week holiday. I tagged along with him for a few of his dining experiences, which were truly inspirational. I don't think I have met someone who I could honestly say, perhaps loves food more than I do. In any case he knows a hell of a lot more about it then I ever will. This meant, going out to restauraunts turned into ten plates of different Indian dishes, shared amongst the group - fantastic,

The girls were doing a masters in social somethingarather which consisted of them having two placements in third world countries. One of them had trained to be a doctor, while the other two had done pyschology. We ended up meeting an Italian writer that was living in London and a local whose Grandfather owned half of the land around where we were. Sitting with them and drinking beers, was a reminder of another reason that I love travelling. When else for example are you going to be able to enjoy good food, on a beautiful beach, with a business analyst from America, an Italian writer, three students doing their first placement in a third world country, one from America, one from the Netherlands and one from Aruba and a local Indian business/land owner. I love that about travelling, being able to mix and mingle with people from all walks of life.

With this group, apart from drinking and eating good food we went on a few walks around the headlands and watched an extremely nice sunset.

When I was killing time there by myself, before I had met everyone above, I went on a few walk/runs to check out the surrounding beaches, read and watched cricket

And that was about that for my four days in Palolem...

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